Season's Greetings - Team Photo

We would like to wish a healthy and prosperous 2016 to you and your family. Our annual holiday group photo is included, below. Mouse over the image for a more casual image of the team.

We are thrilled that even our team's newest member Christina Calvert has over 5 years of experience with us. Our team remains remarkably consistent in such a rapidly changing world. In the photos, Carl is again wearing his McLeod trader's jacket. Scotia Wealth Management now presents a plaid jacket to each of the top 35 advisors in the firm's "Chairman's Council" to honour their commitment to growth of client assets.

We thank you for letting us help with your investments and wish you all the best for the holidays.

TFSA Limit Clarity

The new Liberal Government has clarified how they intend to implement the campaign promise to reduce TFSA room. Thankfully, there will be no retroactive reduction in the $10,000 2015 TFSA limit and there is no need to rush as the 2015 TFSA room will carry forward. The limit for 2016 will be $5,500 and future years will be indexed to inflation. All unused room from 2015 back to 2009 will continue to be able to be carried forward meaning $46,500 in cumulative room for 2016.

Please contact us if you have questions about how best to top up your TFSA.

2015 Year End Tax Tips

Our 2015 year-end tax tips are attached. In addition to the TFSA changes (see above), it includes other information about RESPs, RRIF, and tax rates. (Warning: if you are in the top marginal tax bracket, it includes the estimated significant tax increases for top income earners — and also the decreases for lower income earners.)

The last day for tax loss selling for non-registered accounts is December 24, 2015 in Canada and December 28, 2015 in the US.

We will be contacting clients with RRIFs directly to review options for reducing taxes in 2015 with the lower RRIF withdrawal option (by re-contributing to the RRIF by Feb 29th). The table with revised rates is also in the tax tips document.

Please contact us if you have any questions about 2015 or 2016 investment strategies.

Carl is active in a project to help foster philanthropy at ScotiaMcLeod. He is co-chair of the "Share the Wealth" initiative that helps manage the ScotiaMcLeod Foundation. In October, he presented 3 fellow advisors with 10k donations to charities they have supported. He presents investment information to youth organizations including Junior Achievement. For 2014 and 2015, Carl has also been active on the United Way's Major Individual Giving campaign.

Lastly, in 2015 Carl attended several competitions of the American Windsurfing Tour. His passion for the sport of windsurfing culminated with a #5 ranking among age 45-55 "masters". Even better, he got to meet and spend time windsurfing with many of the legends of the sport. Way to go Carl!

Bank of Canada — Lunch with Stephen Poloz

Carl, Andrew, Nicole, Debbie and I attended the lunch on December 8th where Bank Governor Poloz announced his arsenal of alternative measures that could be used if there were to be another financial crisis like in 2008/2009. While most of the media reports were on the potential use of negative interest rates, the key message was that the Bank of Canada remains committed to protecting the value of the Canadian dollar by keeping inflation low. He also mentioned that there could be some benefits to low resource prices, namely that it can help with global growth overall — thus helping other sectors of Canada's economy. A major risk remains overpriced real estate in Canada's 4 major housing markets. You can see the text of Poloz's speech here:

Recommended Reading

We have included a link to Scotiabank's Focus 2016 from our Equity Research group. While at 318 pages, some may insist it is a cure for insomnia, it does contain a lot of useful information about various industry sectors. Feel free to peruse those that are of interest to you.

With assets of $4.5 Trillion, Blackrock is the largest investment management firm in the world. Their iShares ETFs and Blackrock mutual funds are available to Canadian investors looking to benefit from their extensive global expertise. With the recent increase in US interest rates, we'll be watching what they have to say and how their investments perform even more closely.

® Registered trademark of The Bank of Nova Scotia, used under licence. ™ Trademark of The Bank of Nova Scotia, used under licence. Scotia Wealth Management™ consists of a range of financial services provided by The Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank®); The Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Company (Scotiatrust®); Private Investment Counsel, a service of 1832 Asset Management L.P.; 1832 Asset Management U.S. Inc.; Scotia Wealth Insurance Services Inc.; and ScotiaMcLeod®, a division of Scotia Capital Inc. ("SCI"). Wealth advisory and brokerage services are provided by ScotiaMcLeod, a division of SCI. Insurance services are provided by Scotia Wealth Insurance Services Inc., the insurance subsidiary of SCI. When discussing life insurance products, ScotiaMcLeod advisors are acting as Life Underwriters (Financial Security Advisors in Québec) representing Scotia Wealth Insurance Services Inc. SCI is a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada.

The Spiess McGlade Team is a personal trade name of Carl Spiess and Allan McGlade.